Alle afleveringen van Learn Jazz Standards Podcast – pagina 7 van 12

ONLY Scale and Chords You Need to Know for Jazz

10 mei 2021 · 41 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 269 where I have the audacity to suggest that you only need to know one scale in order to start improvising over jazz standards. And chords? Only a small handful. Lees meer

This episode will help beginner and intermediate jazz musicians cut the fat, weed out the excess, and get down to the essentials.

Every month in our LJS Inner Circle membership, we do something called the Monthly Jazz Mastermind. And this is an opportunity for all the members to get on a live Q&A call with me to ask any music or jazz-related questions. It's a lot of fun and we had a great question that came up, and the question was, "as a trumpet player, which scales and chords are considered to be a must-know before going on to others?"And the first way I answer this particular member was that it doesn't matter if you're a trumpet player or a guitar player, a bass player, or a saxophone player. Whatever instrument you play when it comes to jazz, there are really only a few scales and really only a few chords that you need to know before going on and exploring more in-depth things. In fact, I had the audacity to suggest that this particular musician only needs to know one scale.

So, let's dig into that in this episode. Let's discover this. Let's break things down, make things simpler and let's do this thing.

In this episode:
1. Understanding the major scale
2. Understanding how to harmonize a major scale with 7th chords
3. There are only 5 chords you need to know
4. Understanding how to utilize the major scale over all of the 7th chords

Important Links:
1. Podcast Sponsor: Modacity (music practicing app)
2. LJS Inner Circle Membership
3. Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Musicians Like YOU Share Their Jazz Breakthroughs (Inner Circle Celebration)

3 mei 2021 · 1 uur 2 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 268 where today we have a very special episode in celebration of our 1 year birthday of our LJS Inner Circle membership. Lees meer

We have a lot of guests on the show, members of our Inner Circle, share their musical breakthroughs to help you get an idea of what's working for them so you can take action for yourself.

Today's episode is a very special episode. It's an episode where we are celebrating the one-year birthday of our LJS Inner Circle membership. And to celebrate that I wanted to have members of our Inner Circle come in on the podcast and share their musical breakthroughs with all of you. Because I believe that when we listen to other musicians who are in the same position as you, you're not professional musicians, not any of those other people, who have actually seen success in their jazz playing.

We want to know what those things actually are. If we can learn from others like us trying to accomplish the same thing, we can fast-track our growth by just keying into these things.

So you are going to learn so much in today's episode from so many different special guests. Get ready for this. This is going to be a fun celebratory episode.

In this episode:
1. Our members share their jazz breakthroughs so you can learn what is working best for musicians just like you

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Innovative Practice Strategies for Mind, Body, and Music (feat. Marc Gelfo)

26 april 2021 · 1 uur 11 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 267 where today we have a special guest, founder and CEO of Modactiy, Marc Gelfo, on to talk about practice strategy. Lees meer

In this episode, Marc digs beneath the surface and shares his thoughts on practicing effectively drawing from neuroscience, psychology, and his experience as an extraordinarily accomplished french hornist.

When it comes to practicing, we often talk about what you should be practicing to improve your musicianship or your jazz skills. And often some tactics are prescribed. I know that I often prescribe certain practice regimens, different things that you can do to accelerate your progress. But we often don't talk about the deeper side, the brain side, the psychological side of practicing. How we can speed up our development by the way we think, by the way we feel physically. And all these things that are kind of meta and beneath the surface of what we normally talk about when we talk about practicing.

So, on today's show, I have a very special guest Marc Gelfo, the founder of the practicing app Modacity, to get inside of all this stuff with us, to talk about the mind, the body, and music and how we can apply some real strategies for improving our practicing and improving our progress.

In this episode:
1. Marc's background on how he came to effective practicing
2. Why practicing well matters (and the consequences of not)
3. Marc's emotional, mental, and technical practice hacks
4. The role of recording your practice
5. Modacity and how it can help you practice more effectively

Important Links:
1. Modacity (Marc's Practice App)
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Mastering Swing Feel and Finding That Perfect Swing

19 april 2021 · 29 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 266 where today we talk about swing feel, what it is, how to properly swing, and some common mistakes musicians make. Lees meer

Swing is the most unique style of jazz, despite there being multiple straight eighth styles associated with jazz. But what exactly makes up a swing feel, and how do we find the balance between "over swinging" and "under swinging." This episode gets you headed in the right direction.

Even though jazz has a lot of different styles and grooves associated with the genre, the most unique style is swing. The idea of swinging your eighth notes, then of course all the other rhythmic associations that come with that. I mean, even a bass player just playing quarter notes can swing really hard and have that feeling underneath it. But I hear a lot of musicians not really quite hitting the mark. Not really getting the swing feel correct.

And so, I want to dive into that in today's episode, to really kind of discover the rhythmic background to the swing feel and then try to figure out what is the sweet spot with swinging and playing eighth-note lines that are straight, what's the beautiful perfect match between the two of those that will really make us groove really hard.

In this episode:
1. Swung eighth notes are based on a triplet pattern
2. How to play straight eighth, triplet eighths, and swung eighths
3. Avoid accenting the "let" of the triplet.
4. Finding the sweet spot between straight and swung eighth notes
5. Copying other jazz musicians' swing feel will help you better understand the feeling of a good swing feel

Important Links:
1. Podcast Sponsor: Modacity (music practicing app)
2. LJS Inner Circle Membership
3. Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Overcoming Musical Frustration and Maintaining Motivation (feat. Michael Lake)

13 april 2021 · 53 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 265 where today I have on special guest musician Michael Lake to talk about overcoming musical frustration. Lees meer

It's not uncommon for a musician studying jazz to get frustrated with their musical progress, which in unhealthy amounts can sometimes lead to demotivation. Michael lends his thoughts on how to work through this and how to set yourself up for long-term success.

The reality of studying any kind of music is that eventually, you are going to get frustrated with your progress. You are going to be frustrated with the way you sound. You are going to be frustrated with how quickly you are progressing. You are going to get frustrated if there's something difficult in that music that you are having a hard time wrapping your head around.

And this is especially true for jazz being a more complex kind of music, with more complex harmony, and improvisation just in general being a challenging concept. But we don't want to stay in that place of frustration for too long. We want to be enjoying ourselves and progressing.

So, in today's show, I have a special guest Michael Lake to talk about overcoming musical frustration and give you some really practical tips and really powerful things for overcoming those barriers of musical frustration and musical motivation.

In this episode:
1. Defining your goals for what you want to get out of the music
2. Accepting your musical skill level as you grow
3. Overcoming frustration with action

Important Links:
Michael Lake's Music Savvy
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Memorizing Jazz Standards 101 (So You Don’t Forget Them)

5 april 2021 · 35 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 264 where today I go over some tips and strategies for memorizing jazz standards in such a way that you are less likely to forget them and can recall them even if you haven't played them in a while. Lees meer

I go over a few don'ts of memorizing jazz standards, and some work you can do ahead of time and during the process of learning that will make a difference.

The question I get quite often is how do I memorize jazz standards so I don't forget them, especially because it seems as if it's required of me to know a lot of them? Like 10, 15, 20, 30, 50, maybe even more jazz standards when you go out to a jam session. Maybe you are a musician who is actually starting to gig around a little bit at your local coffee shops and bars, and you need to know a lot of tunes. And it can be really frustrating especially if you have learned the tune only later when it's called on a jam session or a gig to forget it.

So in this episode, I'm going to be digging into some strategies and some tips I can offer to help you memorize jazz standards better and really get the most out of them so that you are not forgetting them that you are able to put them to use on the bandstand.

In this episode:
1. Learn the melody using the LIST Process
2. Understand the major and minor diatonic series
3. Be able to recall in your head and on your instrument common chord progressions in different keys
4. After learning the chords to a jazz standard, categorize each set of changes rather than thinking of chords individually

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

The L.R.C Practice Strategy for Mastering Musical Material

29 maart 2021 · 22 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 263 where today I go over a simple strategy you can start implementing into your practice. It's called the L.R.C Practice Strategy, and it will help you take your practice to the next level with structured and focused actions that yield better and faster results. Lees meer

In today's episode, I'm going to be teaching a simple but powerful practice strategy that I first kind of put a name to and revealed in a masterclass that I gave at our recent Learn Jazz Live 2021 Virtual Summit. And this is a practice strategy that I implement in a lot of my courses, of course, in my own playing and any other students that I've taught in the past.

I've used this practice strategy to help accelerate the process of becoming a better jazz improviser and making sure that while practicing, you are utilizing all the elements of the material you are learning to really make quicker progress.

I'm excited about this episode, it's a quick but powerful one.

In this episode:
1. Learn
2. Refine
3. Create

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

From the Vault: Bossa Nova Basics with Livio Almeida (5 Year Birthday Episode)

22 maart 2021 · 39 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 262 where today we are reaching into the LJS Podcast Vault and going back in time to revisit an episode all about Bossa Nova. Special guest Livio Almeida walks us through the basics, shedding light on important rhythms, composers, and tunes. This is one of those episodes that needs another listen! Lees meer

Today on the podcast we are going to be traveling back in time. We are going to be reaching into the vault of the LJS podcast to reflect on an episode back in the earlier days of the show that I think is really important and one that I don't really talk about, or at least a subject matter I don't really touch on a lot nowadays because I'm not really an expert in the field.

However, it's really important to jazz, and that is Bossa Nova and understanding the basic rhythms, understanding some ideas about how to play Bossa Nova well because Bossa Novas are a big part of the jazz standard repertoire so we need to know that very well.I had a special guest, Livio Almeida, onboard this episode that we are going to revisit today and he is an expert at all the stuff and an incredible jazz musician as well.

In this episode:
1. Learn about the origins of Bossa Nova
2. Learn basic rhythmic structures of Bossa Nova
3. Learn important composers to be aware of
4. Learn important tunes you need to learn
5. Learn about "Choro" music (Brazilian bebop)
6. Brent recaps his biggest episode takeaways

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

4 Levels of Jazz Chords to Spice Up Your Comping and Improv

15 maart 2021 · 18 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 261 where today I'm covering 4 levels of jazz chords so that you can start implementing these concepts into your comping and jazz solos. Lees meer

In this episode, I start with the simplest of chords, triads, and build up in complexity. You'll learn how jazz musicians take basic chords and transform them into colorful harmonic tools.

In your jazz studies, you probably noticed that jazz standards have a wealth of harmonic information in them. And jazz musicians don't even always stick to that harmonic information in the jazz standard. Sometimes they take a chord and they change it. They make it even more colorful. Sometimes they remove a chord. Sometimes they'll add in different chords altogether.

So how do we go from just very basic chords? Like just regular triads that you've heard of, you know, rock and pop and all that stuff, and slowly turn them into "jazzy chords"?Well, that's what we are going to talk about in today's episode. Four different levels of jazz chords starting from incredibly basic to a lot more complex and more colorful, the kind of stuff that jazz musicians like to play in their harmony, their comping, and in their solos.

In this episode:
1. Triads
2. 7th Chords
3. Extensions and Alterations
4. Chord Substitutions

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

7 Steps for Improvising Over Jazz Standards from Scratch

9 maart 2021 · 44 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 260 where today I'm covering a 7 step process for improvising over a jazz standard starting from zero. This is the exact process that my Inner Circle members go through to learn and improvise over a new jazz standard every month, and now I'm sharing it with you. Lees meer

Check it out! I just got done practicing 4 hours to demonstrate the material that I'm about to show you in this episode where I'm going to show you how you can go from essentially not knowing a jazz standard almost at all to improvising over it at a fairly high level. And there are 7 steps I'm going to walk you through that I personally went through today to get myself to this point and certain tools that I use in order to accelerate this process.So I'm really excited about this process.

This is one of those episodes where it's kind of a big, big one and I really want you to pay attention to this one.

In this episode:
1. Learn the melody and the changes
2. Learn and memorize a chord tone map
3. Learn and memorize a guide tone map
4. Learn and memorize a scale map
5. Learn one chorus of an etude or solo
6. Compose your own chorus of a solo
7. Improvise a chorus of a solo

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

7 Steps for Not Getting Lost During Your Jazz Solos

3 maart 2021 · 28 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 259 where today we're addressing a really common problem improvisers face, which is getting lost in the form while you are soloing. Lees meer

Getting lost is something that happens to everyone, but the key is reducing this occurrence and being able to get back on quickly.

Here are 7 steps to consider.

So you're in the middle of your solo, and you are playing all the notes. You think you are playing the changes. You're getting swept away. Then all of a sudden you realize, I don't know where I am in the song. This horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach comes up, and you feel embarrassed. You don't even know what you're doing. You just started playing random notes. You're getting disflustered. All these things are coming about, you just don't know where you are in the song anymore. Somehow, you got lost. And so the big question is, how can we avoid this from happening? How can we avoid getting lost when we are playing jazz standards when we are improvising our solos? And how do we set ourselves up for success so that this does not happen to you ever again?

That's exactly what we are going to talk about in today's episode. And we're going to go over 7 questions to ask yourself if you are doing these things or not, to help you avoid this mistake.

In this episode:
1. How are you learning the tune? By ear or by sheet music?
2. Can you recognize the sounds of basic chord progressions?
3. Do you practice singing along with the form?
4. Do you practice with a metronome?
5. Do you have a good concept of playing subdivisions?
6. Do you practice keeping track of the form while listening to recordings?
7. Do you practice improvising off of the melody?

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Experimenting with Your Improvisation (Practice Session)

22 februari 2021 · 26 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 258 where today I'm having you sit in on a practice session where I explore a I-VI-ii-V chord progression, experimenting with whatever ideas come up in the moment. Lees meer

A lot of times we get wrapped up on playing the "right notes" that we forget that we have to experiment creatively to find the music that we really want to play. Developing a mindset of experimentation can help with that.

You know a lot of us can get stuck in our jazz improv when we get over-analytical. We think a lot about exercises. We think a lot about certain concepts we may have learned that we want to apply over a jazz standard or a chord progression, and we forget that we're actually just trying to make music. And for me, and something that I like to instill in all my students, implement into my courses and my programs, is the act of creation, of experimenting, finding the notes you like, finding the notes you don't like, trying different things to see what works and what doesn't work.

So, in today's episode, I'm going to do a little bit of a practice session just for myself over a popular chord progression.I'm just going to try as many things as possible, and just work through the chord progression, try to see what ideas come up spontaneously, see what I like and see what I don't like.And I think this will help you understand how you can structure a practice session around this concept of experimentation and creation.

In this episode:
1. Why experimentation is important for better jazz improv
2. I practice a I-VI-ii-V progression, experimenting as much as possible

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
Learn Jazz Live 2021 Virtual Summit

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

10 Life Skills I’ve Learned from Studying Jazz

15 februari 2021 · 46 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 257 where today I discuss 10 life skills I've learned from studying jazz. In the process of studying this music, I've found that a lot of the mindsets and skills I've learned have translated to a multitude of different areas in my life. Knowing this is extremely helpful, and I share some of the insights I've gained that you can share in as well. Lees meer

This episode is a little bit of a different one from what I normally would talk about on this show, going away from some of the jazz improv tips, tricks, practice strategies, and diving into a little bit more of life lessons that I've learned as a result of studying jazz. I don't know about you, obviously learning music, becoming a great jazz improviser, there's a lot of fulfillment within just that action.

Music is its own reward. However, I like to think that everything I do has benefits that spread across other aspects of my life. And certainly, when I look back on my jazz education and how it has affected me now, I see a ton of benefits that have really made a huge impact and helped me grow in areas of my life I never thought I would develop so quickly or so strongly.

So, in today's episode, I'm going to go over ten life lessons that I've learned from studying jazz, break down what they are, and I'm sure that you'll find some inspiration and help in understanding these as well.

In this episode:
1. Developing long-term thinking
2. Building acceptance of myself
3. Developing a growth mindset
4. Developing perseverance
5. Developing a deeper appreciation for professionalism
6. Learning how to maximize my productivity
7. Developing project managing skills
8. Learning how to "start ugly"
9. Learning how to teach better
10. Developing critical listening skills

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
Learn Jazz Live 2021 Virtual Summit

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

How to Develop a Jazz Solo (First Steps)

8 februari 2021 · 32 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 256 where today I walk you through some different steps for beginning to develop a great jazz solo. Lees meer

A common mistake I hear is beginning a jazz solo with lots of notes and a myriad of ideas, rather than using call and response and a thematic building ideas. I show you actionable steps you can take to start bringing your solos to life.

Okay, what was wrong with that solo? There is something horribly wrong with that solo and what was wrong with it was, right as soon as it was my turn to solo, I came out of the gate just playing as many notes as possible, just trying to fill up as much space as possible. And guess what, it probably sounded boring. It probably didn't spell the chord changes as well as I could have. It just didn't sound that musical. It was just a lot of notes regardless of whether they are the right notes or not.

So, the big question is, how do we develop really awesome jazz solos? Well, that's exactly what we're going to do today. We're not going to do what I just did. We are going to make really awesome jazz solos that sound great.

In this episode:
1. Start with simple rhythms using only one note per chord
2. Slowly add more rhythmic complexity and additional notes to your idea
3. Create rhythmic and melodic phrases and practice "carbon copying" them over different chords as an exercise
4. Use direction of your lines to help manipulate your motific ideas
5. Manipulate your rhythms to create more space

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
Learn Jazz Live 2021 Virtual Summit

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Why is Analyzing Jazz Standards Helpful for Improvisation?

1 februari 2021 · 10 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 255 where today I'm sharing a short excerpt from a recent live Q&A call I had with my LJS Inner Circle members that answers the question: why is analyzing jazz standards helpful for improvisation? Lees meer

I discuss two aspects that make analysis helpful for the learning process and why it's worth spending some time doing.

There are many ways to go about learning jazz standards and memorizing them and also improvising over them. And one way that people like to start learning jazz standards and figuring out improvising over them better is through analysis. Analyzing the chord changes to a jazz standard, putting certain theoretical labels on things such as relative minor, parallel minor. All these things that maybe you've heard in the jazz theory world before. But why would you do it? Why is it important to do? Is it even helpful?

Well, this was a question I was asked in my monthly jazz mastermind, which is a Q&A call that we do in my Inner Circle membership and I thought this was a great question so we are going to answer that in today's episode.

In this episode:
1. Analyzing can help you learn and memorize tunes better
2. Analyzing can help you understand the contexts of chords and chord progressions, which will influence your improv decisions

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
Learn Jazz Live 2021 Virtual Summit

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

How to Develop Great Time Feel 101

25 januari 2021 · 23 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 254 where today we talk about how to develop a good time feel and a basic sense of rhythm. You can play all of the "right" notes, and the hippest licks, but if your time feel is off and your execution poor, you'll end up sounding amateur. Lees meer

In this episode, you'll learn two exercises that will get you headed in the right direction.

One of the more common issues I hear in the playing of beginner to intermediate jazz improvisers is a poor time feel. Just not really being able to land their phrases in the time, maybe it's rushing, maybe it's dragging, maybe it's just the phrases are sounding a little bit off for lack of sense of rhythm in where the time is. And this is really an important thing to hone in on because we could play all the right notes and have really great lines and licks but if we're not playing them with a good time feel, it can really just sound completely immature.

So, in today's episode, I'm going to go over just the very basics of developing a good time feels, that we could start getting headed on the right track, and start playing better jazz solos in better time.

In this episode:
1. Working on basic subdivisions with a metronome
2. Reducing the clicks while working on subdivisions
3. Practice feeling space with the metronome

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
Learn Jazz Live 2021 Virtual Summit

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

How to Know Which Scales to Play Over Jazz Standards

18 januari 2021 · 30 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 253 where today we talk about scales and how to know which ones to play over chords and chord progressions within jazz standards. When it comes to scales, there are so many options to choose from, and it can be a bit overwhelming. Learn how to boil it down to the essentials and choose the most common ones first. Lees meer

Once you learn the jazz standard, it can be helpful to understand what notes you have available to play to start improvising over that tune. While scales are not the first place I normally go to, scales can be very helpful to start identifying some notes that you can use to start navigating it.

Now, there are so many different scales out there, that it is kind of hard to know what are the right ones to play over chords in chord progressions.

And so in today's episode, I'm going to be cutting the fact, making things very simple and easy for you to understand, and talk about what scales to play over jazz standards in different contexts.

In this episode:
1. Using the modes as your primary context
2. Common scales over dominant 7th chords
3. Which scales to play over Autumn Leaves
4. Examples of more advanced chord/scale application

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
Learn Jazz Live 2021 Virtual Summit

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

How to Start Improvising Effortlessly and Unleash Your Inner Musician (feat. Mike Casey)

11 januari 2021 · 44 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 252 where today we have on special guest saxophonist and recording artist Mike Casey to talk about his experience with achieving effortlessness in improvisation. We all have heard our favorite musicians play and wonder how they achieve a level of "effortlessness" in their playing, and Mike helps break down the things that have worked for him. Lees meer

When I see some of the best jazz musicians in the world play their instruments, it almost seems like it is effortless. Like there's this stream of musical creative ideas flowing out of their consciousness into the world through their horn, through their piano, through their guitar -- whatever instrument they are playing and it's just this magical experience.And I don't know about you but I often find myself wanting more of that. Wanting to feel that freedom, that effortless that seems to be transpiring in front of me.

So on today's show, I have a very special guest, Mike Casey, who is a professional saxophonist and recording artist. And when I asked him the question, how do you play what seems to be so effortlessly, I was surprised that he actually had a series of answers for me.

In this episode:
1. How playing by ear was the cornerstone of Mike's jazz education
2. How life education translates to jazz education
3. Becoming comfortable with your playing so you can truly express
4. Allowing creative freedom during your practice

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
Learn Jazz Live 2021 Virtual Summit

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Internalizing Licks with Jam Tracks and Improving Your Musicality (feat. Quist)

4 januari 2021 · 46 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 251 where today we have on special guest guitarist and professional musician Quist. He shares with us his tips for internalizing jazz licks using jam tracks as a tool, as well as a host of other topics and insights to how he developed his musicianship to a high level. Lees meer

Now, for many of us sitting at home, who are trying to learn how to play this jazz thing better and become better musicians, we find that backing tracks can be really helpful to practice along with, to stay motivated, to have fun while practicing.

And on today's episode, I have a special guest, Quist, who is a Danish-born jazz guitar player. He is a recording artist and he also makes quite a few backing tracks himself to help his audience practice. And he gives some great tips on how to practice along with backing tracks, the most effective ways to do that, along with a bunch of other awesome, really cool topics that we talk about, and his tips and tricks for musical improvement.

In this episode:
1. How Quist became interested in jazz and improvisation
2. How to use jam tracks to internalize licks
3. 3 questions to ask yourself to "get in the zone" when you are ready to improvise

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
Learn Jazz Live 2021 Virtual Summit

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

How to ACTUALLY Achieve Your 2021 Jazz New Years Resolutions

28 december 2020 · 29 min

Afspelen

Welcome to episode 250 where today I talk about what makes a great jazz New Year Resolution that you will actually see through to the end. Most of us want to become better jazz improvisers in 2021, but that's about where it ends. In this episode I break down 3 characteristics of achievable resolutions and a really good one you should commit to in 2021. Lees meer

In this podcast episode, I'm going to be presenting you a simple strategy that could pay dividends in your jazz playing in 2021. But first, I have to be honest with you. I hate New Years' Resolutions. And to be clear, I don't have a problem with the goal-setting aspect of it or the idea of a New Year being a new chapter.

All those things actually resonate with me quite a bit. It's more the I'm-going-to-do-this-but-I-don't-have-a-plan part. You know, it's this idea that I'm going to achieve my goals whether it would be jazz music or anything else, but I don't really have anything that constitutes a good plan, a good goal, a good action plan for success.

So, in today's episode, I'm going to be going over how you can start setting yourself up for 2021, your jazz playing to accelerate, to grow more than it ever has. I'm also going to share with you what I think could be a good goal for you that will really pack a huge punch in your jazz playing next year.

In this episode:
1. Make sure your goal is measurable and realistic
2. Make sure along with the right tools you have the right strategy
3. Make sure you have a community to help motivate you and hold you accountable when the going gets tough

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
Dominate a Jazz Standard in One Month (video mentioned in the episode)

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Using the Concepts You Already Know to Play Great Jazz Solos (feat. Matt Warnock)

21 december 2020 · 55 min

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Welcome to episode 249 where we have special guest guitarist Matt Warnock from Matt Warnock Guitar to talk jazz and all things improv. We discuss a number of topics including using the concepts you already know to start improvising, the three most powerful concepts he's worked on to gain traction in his playing, and his philosophies on learning jazz and enjoying the process. Lees meer

You know, I don't know about you but I have this tendency to always want to learn more and more stuff. Like I learn one jazz improv tool or trick or concept and I just want to go on to the next one because maybe that next one has the answer that I'm looking for to start cracking the code, to start playing the jazz solos that I've always dreamed of. But sometimes, we actually can just use the tools that we already know, the scale we already know, the chord tones we already know.

Whatever it happens to be for you, there are million different ways to just use the tools you already have available to you to create really awesome music.

Now this is just only one of the many concepts that I talk about with my guest today, Matt Matt Warnock from Matt Warnock Guitar. And we just had a great time talking and there's just so many golden nuggets in this episode, including about the 3 things that he really feels have packed a big punch in his jazz playing and taken him to the next level over the years and kept him really nice and busy.

In this episode:
1. Matt's classical training and how that helped him play jazz
2. How to use simple tools like scales you know to begin improvising well
3. How to enjoy the process of learning so you enjoy the benefits of the long game
4. Matt's top 3 most effective things he's practiced

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
Matt Warnock Guitar and his courses
Learn Jazz Live 2021 Virtual Summit

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

How to Speed Up Your Musical Progress By Focusing On What Matters (feat. Mark Morley-Fletcher)

14 december 2020 · 48 min

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Welcome to episode 248 where today we have special guest Mark Morley-Fletcher from Play In The Zone on to talk about how to focus on what really matters in your jazz playing to expedite your improvement. Lees meer

Mark is an incredible educator, and combining his background in analytics and his interest in performance psychology, delivers some incredible tips and tricks for hacking your jazz progress.

What if I told you that if you could identify exactly the way you want to sound like in your jazz playing and you were to distill it down to just a few different items and cast away everything else, that you could improve much quicker, especially if you approached it in a goal-oriented fashion.

And what if I told you that if you develop the right mindsets and the right frames of mind, and understood the way your brain works, you could also increase your potential as a jazz musician.

Well, my guest today Mark Morley-Fletcher from Play In The Zone is going to help us with exactly that -- show us how we can focus on the things that really matter, cast away the things that don't and use psychology in order to help us improve even quicker.

In this episode:
1. Defining what you want to sound like and distilling what elements you should work on
2. The importance of effective learning and how to know when to move on from something you're stuck on
3. Surrounding yourself with the right community to support your success
4. Mark's upcoming Learn Jazz Live 2021 workshop

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
Learn Jazz Live 20212.
Mark's playinthezone.com

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

How to Crush It On a “Bird Blues” and Simplify Your Solos

7 december 2020 · 26 min

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Welcome to episode 247 where today we discuss strategies on Charlie Parker's variation on a blues which has been dubbed a "Bird Blues." Using this song form as a vessel, I show you how you can take fast moving changes, simplify them, and start navigating them without playing a bunch of notes. Lees meer

I often say that the blues is an incredible jumping-off point into jazz in learning jazz standards and how to improvise over them. And in today's episode, I'm actually going to talk about a variation on the blues called a "Bird Blues". And "bird", of course, refers to the great saxophonist Charlie Parker, the bebop legend. He kind of took those basic blues changes and transformed them into lots of extra moving harmony that just made it creative.

I think that the "Bird Blues" is an excellent example of how we can take a basic blues form and start transitioning into a more typical jazz standard harmony which is going to open up the doors to being able to improvise over tons and tons of different tunes professionally. This is going to be a really good episode. I'm going to give you some strategies and go over what "Bird Blues" is.

In this episode:
1. Understanding "Bird Blues" Harmony
2. Sensoring the chord changes
3. Using motivic development to simplify your lines

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
Learn Jazz Live 2021 Virtual Summit

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

5 Important Lessons I Learned From My Jazz Teachers

23 november 2020 · 23 min

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Welcome to episode 246 where today I discuss 5 lessons I learned from my jazz teachers that had a profound effect on my musicianship and mindset. Lees meer

Whether it's by example or by the actual words said, I've been lucky to study with some world-class teachers who taught me a lot. Here's some of the best stuff that I'll share with you.

I've had the great fortune of studying with some world-class musicians and jazz musicians over the years. And I've learned so many lessons from these teachers that have not only impacted my jazz playing and the way I think about music but the way I actually think about life.

Here in the US this week, we have a little holiday called Thanksgiving. Now, of course, this holiday is much more about just eating food and getting together with family and friends, but the basis of the holiday is to remind yourself what you are grateful for and thankful for. I am thankful for some of these amazing lessons from these teachers that I'm about to share with you and I hope will have a positive impact on you as well.

In this episode:
1. A lesson about playing with passion from Justin Nielsen
2. A lesson about playing from where you are at from Bruce Forman
3. A lesson about the never-ending pursuit of learning from John Pattitucci
4. A lesson about utilzing jazz standards from Peter Bernstein
5. A lesson about your emotions from Vic Juris

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

How Much Do I Need to Practice to Make Meaningful Improvement?

16 november 2020 · 14 min

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Welcome to episode 245 where today I discuss how long you actually need to practice in order to make meaningful improvement in your jazz playing. Lees meer

While there is no one size fits all answer, it may surprise you to find out that you don't need to practice as much as you think.

One of the main things I hear from people is that they just don't have enough time to practice. There's just not enough hours in the day, they have busy lives and because of that, they worry that they will never become a better musician or jazz improvisers.

And there is a myth out there that you do need to practice long hours in order to improve as a musician or jazz improviser. And while there is some truth in the fact that if you do practice long hours you have more opportunities for growth, it does not necessarily mean that you will improve and improve quickly.

So, in today's episode, I'm going to answer the question, how long do you need to practice in order to improve as a jazz musician and we'll dig a little bit deeper.

In this episode:
1. The myth about practicing for long hours
2. How smarter practice is better than longer practice
3. Examples of practice sessions that pack a lot in a short period of time

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

3 Roadblocks Intermediate Jazz Musicians Face (And How to Overcome)

9 november 2020 · 21 min

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Welcome to episode 244 where today I go over 3 common roadblocks I hear about from intermediate jazz musicians. These roadblocks can make these musicians feel like they are stuck on a plateau and unable to move forward in their progress. I discuss one action item for each roadblock to help you move past them. Lees meer

If you've been at this jazz thing for a while and would consider yourself in the intermediate range as far as skill level as a jazz musician, you've likely come across roadblocks in your playing and have felt like you are stuck on a plateau, like you are just not improving the way you want to.

Well, I've certainly felt that way many times in my playing, and I've noticed with my students in my courses and my Inner Circle members that I hear the same things over and over again when it comes to frustrations from intermediate players with their jazz playing.

So in today's episode, I like to share with you the top three roadblocks that I hear about and give you one thing that you can do for each one to start moving past those roadblocks so that you can move up in your jazz playing and become a better jazz improviser.

In this episode:
1. Unable to apply jazz language they've learned
2. Know the chord tones and notes to play but not able to target them in their solos when improvising
3. Practice a lot but feel like they aren't improving

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

My Top 10 Favorite Jazz Albums (Old and Modern)

2 november 2020 · 30 min

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Welcome to episode 243 where today I reveal my top 10 favorite jazz albums of all time. These albums are ones that I have come back to time and time again, and think you should check out as well. I go over 5 older jazz albums and 5 modern jazz albums I absolutely love. Lees meer

I had someone in our Learn Jazz Standards Facebook group recently ask me, "Hey Brent, what are your favorite jazz albums of all time? Have you done a podcast episode about that?"And at that time, the answer was no.

But today, I am gearing up to fix that. In today's episode, I'm going to go over my 10 favorite jazz albums, the ones that I just always kept coming back to over the years. I'm going to do five old ones and five more modern jazz ones that I really love. And hopefully, you'll also learn some great albums that you can start listening to this week.

In this episode:
1. Sonnyside Up by Dizzy Gillespie
2. Soul Station by Hank Mobley
3. The Bridge by Sonny Rollins
4. Smokin' at the Half Note by Wynton Kelly
5. Someday My Prince Will Come by Miles Davis
6. Strangers in Paradise by Peter Bernstein
7. Deep Song by Kurt Rosenwinkel
8. It's You I Like by John Ellis
9. Art of the Trio 4 by Brad Mehldau Trio
10. Ultrahang by Chris Potter

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

[Practice Plan] How to Master a Minor Blues and Accelerate Your Progress

26 oktober 2020 · 45 min

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Welcome to episode 242 where today we conclude with our final episode of Minor Blues Month! Lees meer

In this episode, I share with you my in-depth practice plan for mastering a minor blues. I'll walk you through all of the material I work through, how to organize it, and a step-by-step practice plan. Get out your notes, this is a meaty one!

Today is the final episode of Minor Blues Month on the LJS podcast where we've been working through 3 strategies for improvising over minor blues in the last 3 episodes. This episode is really special because I will be revealing my masterplan for mastering a minor blues, for having a very high proficiency at playing over the song form by the time you are done, and also feeling confident in your minor jazz playing, playing over minor chord progressions, and of course on jazz standards. So important.

This is going to be a fun episode. It's one that's really important. It's always the most important episodes, the ones where I actually give you an action plan that you can take action on, that you can start implementing into your practice because practice is what gets results. And this master plan here is definitely going to get you results.

In this episode:
1. My Recycling Jazz Practice Plan and how it works
2. Mapping Exercises and how they work
3. Blues Heads and why they are important
4. Etudes and what they are useful for
5. How to recycle minor blues material in all 12 keys

Important Links:
1. Minor Blues Accelerator course
2. LJS Inner Circle Membership
3. Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

[Strategy #3] Sky-rocketing a Minor Blues with Bebop Language

19 oktober 2020 · 39 min

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Welcome to episode 241 where today we are diving into Strategy #3 of Minor Blues Month! Lees meer

In the last episode, we pick up where we left off with an etude that was re-composed to add chord tones and scales. This time we implement bebop language utilizing enclosure and chromaticsm to take it to the next level.

It's episode 3 of Minor Blues Month here on the LJS podcast where I've been going over 3 strategies for improvising over a minor blues, an important song form in jazz. And the last episode, of course, #4 next week, is going to be all about my strategy, my plan for mastering "a minor blues".But in today's episode, we're going to be talking about strategy #3 which is all about bebop language and applying that over a blues. You'll be composing an etude. We've applied blues language. We've applied chord tones and scales. Now, we are going to take that same etude and add some bebop into it and it's going to be really awesome.

In this episode:
1. A review of last episodes etude
2. Adding an extra chord change to the minor blues form
3. 3 characteristics of bebop and how to utilize them
4. I re-compose the etude adding bebop language

Important Links:
1. Minor Blues Accelerator course
2. LJS Inner Circle Membership
3. Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

[Strategy #2] Elevating a Minor Blues with Chord Tones and Scales

12 oktober 2020 · 43 min

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Welcome to episode 240 where today we are diving into Strategy #2 of Minor Blues Month! In the last episode, we composed a 12-bar minor blues using the minor pentatonic and blues scale almost exclusively. This time we build on that etude by incorporating chord tones and a few scales to level up the jazz in our minor blues. Lees meer

This is our second episode for Minor Blues Month here where we are going over 3 strategies for improvising over a minor blues, as well as the last 4th episode being my practice plan for really mastering and diving deep into a minor blues. In the last episode, we talked about strategy #1 which was using minor pentatonics and the blues scale to improvise. And on that episode, I basically composed on the spot an etude over a 12-bar minor blues using almost exclusively just those two tools.

Now, in today's episode, we are going to take that exact same etude and add strategy number 2 to it, and start doing a little bit of recomposition. And strategy #2 is all about using chord tones and modes and scales to start adding some more color and dimension to this important song form.

In this episode:
1. A review of last episode's etudes
2. Adding some chords to the minor blues form
3. Chord tones and scales to use over a minor blues
4. I re-compose the etude while implementing the new strategy

Important Links:
1. Minor Blues Accelerator course
2. LJS Inner Circle Membership
3. Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

[Strategy #1] Crushing a Minor Blues with Minor Pentatonics

5 oktober 2020 · 36 min

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Welcome to episode 239 of the LJS Podcast where today we kick off "Minor Blues Month" on the podcast! We'll be uncovering 3 strategies for improvising over a minor blues and then my master practice plan for dominating a minor blues. Lees meer

Today is Strategy #1: Minor Pentatonics and "Blues Scales."Listen to episode 239October 2020 is Minor Blues Month here on the LJS podcast where I will be going over 3 strategies for improvising over a minor blues followed by the final episode 4 of the series where I'm going to give you my plan for mastering a minor blues.

Now today's episode is strategy number 1 where we're going to talk about using the minor pentatonic and the blues scale. What's going to be fun about this series is each strategy is going to go over something new. A new kind of approach to the minor blues but I'm going to be composing a solo, it's a 12-bar minor blues solo today on this show, only using those tools.
And in the next episode, I'm going to be taking that exact same solo but changing it and morphing it up a little bit to add the new strategy. And in the next episode, strategy number 3, adding more to the solo to start developing it and making it more complex.

In this episode:
1. Minor Blues Month and what you will learn
2. The chords to a basic minor blues form
3. How to play minor pentatonic and the "blues" scale
4. I compose a solo using these scales on a minor blues

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

I Learn Part of a Jazz Solo by Ear (My Process)

28 september 2020 · 38 min

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Welcome to episode 238 of the LJS Podcast where today I sit down and learn the first A section of a jazz etude I've been wanting to learn. Listen in as I walk through my process for learning a jazz solo by ear off of a recording. You'll find observing the process helpful as well as learning some awesome jazz lines to try out for yourself. Lees meer

Have you ever heard a jazz solo and after you heard it, you just knew you had to learn it, or at least learn a part of it? Because if only you could learn that musical information then somehow it would unlock something that you were missing in your jazz playing. Do you just want to know like how did they do that? Well, I've been feeling like that a lot lately, and here is a particular solo that I've heard recently and have become accustomed to that I just really want to learn a part of it. Now, I often just feel like I don't have enough time to properly practice these days. I'm just so busy with all these different things.

So I'm going to be stealing a little bit of time here on the podcast to learn this solo. But at the same time, I know that you're going to get this in your ears and learn some things along the way as well and get inside of my process for how I go about learning a jazz solo by ear.

In this episode:
1. I learn the first part of a jazz etude on "Misty"

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

How to Listen to Jazz Mindfully

21 september 2020 · 43 min

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Welcome to episode 237 of the LJS Podcast where today I share a masterclass I am taking out of the vault about listening to jazz. Lees meer

The way we listen to jazz can dictate how much we actually get out of it when we listen. As jazz musicians, listening can be one of our best forms of practice if we approach it mindfully.

When you listen to jazz, what are you hearing? What are you listening for? What kind of things are going through your head as you hear the different instruments play? As you hear the melody played? As you hear the comping being played? The drumming being played? What are you listening for?

Well, listening to jazz is one of the most important things you can do if you want to become a better jazz musician. But I find that if we really do some mindful listening, some critical listening, and understand what we're listening for, it can be incredibly helpful for not only appreciating jazz more but for getting as much out of it as possible so that we can start implementing into our playing.

So, in today's episode, I'm going to be sharing with you part of a masterclass I did once for mindful jazz listening and we're going to listen to a couple of tracks, dig deep into them, and see what we can find out.

In this episode:
1. A listen through "Blues Up and Down"
2. A listen through "Someday My Prince Will Come"

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Spice Up Your Jazz Ballad Playing with Side Step 2-5’s

14 september 2020 · 23 min

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Welcome to episode 236 of the LJS Podcast where today I show you a simple technique that will help you take your jazz ballad playing to the next level. Lees meer

One of the challenges of playing ballads is the slow tempo and chords that seem to last forever. Side step 2-5's will help you add more harmonic movement and have you sounding like a pro.

Ballads can be some of the more difficult jazz standards to solo over top of because they're typically played at fairly slow tempos and there's usually a lot of space in between each chord. And now that may seem like a bit of a luxury for those who struggle with playing over up-tempos but believe me when I say that soloing over top of slow tempos on ballads can be just as difficult if not more difficult than playing on uptempo.

So in today's episode, I'm going to be giving you a cool little technique called side step 2-5's that can actually help you fill in more of that space, create more harmonic movement and therefore, give you more options and more creativity in your jazz ballad playing.

In this episode:
1. Side Step #1: 2-5 replacing the V
2. Side Step #2: 2-5 replacing the vi

Important Links:
1. LJS Inner Circle Membership (Access to ear-training course)
2. Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
3. LJS 59: 5 Tips for Playing Jazz Ballads Like an Expert

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Take This Ear Training Intervals Quiz

7 september 2020 · 20 min

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Welcome to episode 235 of the LJS Podcast where today I put you to the test. Lees meer

Instead of the regular format of tips and tricks for becoming a better jazz musician, we're doing an ear training intervals quiz and I want to see how well you do.

Today's episode is a bit more of an experimental episode where I am going to be putting you to the test. We are going to be going outside of our normal format of tips and tricks for becoming a better jazz improviser and we are going to instead be doing an ear training interval recognition quiz.I want to see how well you do at recognizing intervals, ascending and descending.

Now, ultimately as jazz improvisers, we want to be able to play what we're hearing in our head. That's really the goal. But that doesn't come naturally to everybody. Certainly, it doesn't come naturally to me. And ear training fundamentals such as interval recognition are ways that we can work out our ears, help us become more critical listeners, and help us know what we are actually hearing. So, this is a great skill to have. Ear training is something that everybody should do a little bit of and so, we're going to see how well you do and see if you need to be doing a little bit more of it.

In this episode:
1. Intervals Ascending
2. Intervals Descending

Important Links:
1. LJS Inner Circle Membership (Access to ear training course)
2. Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
3. Video: How to Train Your Ears to Hear Intervals
4. LJS 78: How to Master Hearing Intervals and Level Up Your Ears

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Are You Having Fun While You Practice?

31 augustus 2020 · 9 min

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Welcome to episode 234 of the LJS Podcast where today I give a quick lecture on the importance of having fun when you practice. Lees meer

Of course, having fun should be the center of why we practice and want to improve. But having fun when you practice can also lead to quicker results in your jazz playing.

Today's episode is probably the shortest in LJS podcast history, but that's because I want to share a short but powerful message with you. Now, I want to ask you a question first before we jump into it though. When you sit down to practice your instrument when you sit down to improve your jazz playing, are you having fun? Are you having fun more often than you are frustrated? More often than you are feeling held back? Are you enjoying yourself when you are playing? Because if you're not, you could be holding yourself back immensely from improving and becoming a better jazz musician quicker.

So, in today's episode, I want to give a short lecture all about having fun and why that is so important.

In this episode:
1. A short lecture on having fun and how it will help you improve faster

Important Links:
1. LJS Inner Circle Membership
2. Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
3. LJS 159: Brain Hacking for Speeding Up Your Jazz Improv Success (feat. Rodney Brim)

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Learn These 4 Jazz Blues Licks (You’ll Thank Me Later)

24 augustus 2020 · 18 min

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Welcome to episode 233 of the LJS Podcast where today I show you 4 jazz blues licks that I know you're going to love. Lees meer

We listen to them and I explain what makes them work and sound so great. Prepare to have your face melted.

Now if you're an avid listener of the LJS podcast, you may have heard me talk a lot about the blues before and how I believe that the blues is a really great song form to master in order to make all the rest of learning jazz standards easier. It just contains so many important chord progressions, a lot of important concepts, and of course, blues. It's kind of the foundation of jazz as far as the origin story, of course, coupled with European marching music and all of that. But I digress.

So, wouldn't it be great to learn some jazz blues language? Of course, it would. Let's go over some jazz blues licks that are really going to melt your face off, to be quite honest with you, and that you're going to love. I'll do a little bit of showing you what they sound like, a little bit of explaining, and hopefully, you'll come across some great ideas that you can start implementing into your playing right away.

In this episode:
Lick #1
Lick #2
Lick #3
Lick #4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al-H5R335cw&t=

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

6 Biggest Mistakes Beginner Jazz Improvisers Make

17 augustus 2020 · 28 min

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Welcome to episode 232 of the LJS Podcast where today I talk about the 6 biggest mistakes I see beginner jazz musicians make. Lees meer

Having helped thousands of students through Learn Jazz Standards, I've discovered common mistakes that come up time and time again. Intermediate and advanced players make these mistakes too. I reveal them as well as some alternatives to correct your course.

Over the last 9 years as a musician, teacher, and online jazz educator, I've had the opportunity to help thousands and thousands and thousands of musicians learn how to play jazz and improve. And over that time, I've been able to witness lots of different kinds of issues that these musicians come across in their journey to becoming better jazz improvisers. I've noticed common mistakes that many of them make that only hold them back from reaching their true potential and improving quickly.

So, in today's episode, I'm going to be going over the 6 most common biggest mistakes I see beginner jazz improvisers make and even some that I see intermediate and even advanced players make as well. So you might want to check in on yourself no matter where you are in your journey to see if any of these fit with you.

In this episode:
1. They don't listen to jazz enough.
2. They use scales as plug-and-play tools.
3. They learn standard and solos primarily from sheet music.
4. They try to copy-and-paste licks into their solos.
5. They consume too much content.
6. They don't have a practice plan.

Important Links:
1. LJS Inner Circle Membership
2. Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
3. LJS 229: How to Turn Scales Into Killer Jazz Solos
4. LJS 216: By the End of This Episode You'll Have Learned a Jazz Blues Solo

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Defining Your “Why” and Setting Goals for Jazz Acceleration

10 augustus 2020 · 23 min

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Welcome to episode 231 of the LJS Podcast where today I feature a chapter reading from my book "Jazz Improvisation Made Simple" where I discuss establishing your "why" and setting goals for your jazz playing. Lees meer

Establishing your why will help you keep anchored when the going gets tough or you feel like you are in a plateau.

If you're a long-term listener of the LJS podcast, today's subject is probably not something that you haven't heard before from me. But this is one of my favorite topics to talk about. And no, it's not a sexy episode. It's not learning the next music theory trick. It's not you learn a new solo by the time you end this episode. It's not a plethora of other things that I notice that a lot of people love to listen to and for good reasons because they are great things.

However, today's episode is really getting down to the bottom of why you're actually learning jazz. Defining your why. Why you want to actually be doing this so that if you're tapping into that at all times, it will motivate you to keep going further and then after that, define your actual roles. Now, if you don't think this is important, I hope that by the end of this episode, you will be convinced because I do believe that this is the number one thing that can move the needle in your jazz playing. Trust me on this.

In this episode:
1. Establishing your "why"
2. Establishing Master Goals
3. Establishing Project Goals
4. Establishing Micro Goals

Important Links:
1. LJS Inner Circle Membership
2. Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
3. Jazz Improvisation Made Simple book

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

3 Steps to Playing Licks Organically in Your Jazz Improv

3 augustus 2020 · 14 min

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Welcome to episode 230 of the LJS Podcast where today I go over my 3 step LIT Process for learning and applying jazz licks. Lees meer

Learning licks and then copy/pasting them into your solos rarely sounds natural, so we need to learn and apply them in a way that allows them to come out organically and expressed our own way.

I've got a question for you. Have you ever learned a jazz lick, maybe off of a record, or from some other resource? You were really excited about it and practiced it, it's a great new idea that you can use in your jazz improv. But when it finally came to actually apply it, maybe at a jam session or gig or just by yourself in a practice jam session, you weren't really able to do it very well. It just sort of sounded contrived, you're basically copying and pasting it, maybe you couldn't really time it right, couldn't really fit it into what you are trying to do. It just didn't sound very good and you sort of felt like, oh, that went to waste!

Well, we don't really want to be using licks that way. Yes, we want to learn them, we want to learn new jazz language. But how do we actually play licks and learn licks so they come out organically in our solos?

That's exactly what we are going to talk about in today's episode. I'm going to teach you my LIT process for learning and applying licks in your jazz improv.

In this episode:
1. Learn
2. Internalize
3. Transform

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

How to Turn Scales Into Killer Jazz Solos

27 juli 2020 · 44 min

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Welcome to episode 229 of the LJS Podcast where today I have on special guest Brett Pontecorvo to teach us how to properly use scales to build great solos. Lees meer

Scales are useful tools, but if applied in an un-musical way, can be problematic. Brett walks us through some solid tips for taking vanilla scales and developing them into melodic masterpieces.

Scales are a classic way to get started with improvising over a jazz standard and they can be quite useful. However, in the wrong hands and used the wrong way, they just end up sounding like scales. Very unmusical, very vanilla, and it just sort of sounds like you are playing notes overtop of jazz standards.And that's not really what we want. We want to play actual music, actual melodies. So the real big question here is how do we make scales musical? How do we take something that is a linear pattern and turn it into something that actually has great melodic value, yet still helps you identify notes and get ideas and sounds in your head that you can use in your jazz improv?

Well, on today's show, I have a very special guest Brett Pontecorvo, who is my music production manager at Learn Jazz Standards, a phenomenal pianist and educator. He is going to teach us exactly how to take scales and make them musical so that you can play killer jazz solos with them.

In this episode:
1. How to choose which scales to play over chords
2. Mapping scales to connect them together
3. Using rhythms as a starting point
4. Intervals and leaps to begin developing melody
5. How chromaticism can help emphasize important scale tones

Important Links:
1. LJS Inner Circle Membership
2. Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
3. Brett's LiveKeyboardist.com https://livekeyboardist.com/

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

How to Play “Outside” and Sound Good

20 juli 2020 · 26 min

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Welcome to episode 228 of the LJS Podcast where today I teach you a few principles and techniques that will help you play "outside" of the changes without it sounding avante garde or playing wrong notes. I use a lick from an etude in our Inner Circle membership as an example. Lees meer

Have you ever listened to a jazz recording and suddenly the soloist that you're listening to starts going outside of the changes like it sounds dissonant, it doesn't sound completely stable, feels unstable, and feels a little shaky. But then all of a sudden they brilliantly resolve it back into the key center again and everything sounds like it came home and it sounds great and they end up sounding like a genius, right? You're like, wow, how do they do that? And sometimes we might want to start going outside of the "changes" so that we can create some different colors, some different sounds, and then resolve back to where we want to be in the diatonic changes.

So, in today's episode, I'm going to be going over some ways to do that by looking at a particular lick that goes through this exact idea of playing outside the changes and then resolving back into the harmony again and see what lessons we can learn from that and take away from it.

In this episode:
1. When going out, remember that you need to come back in
2. Use repeated patterns
3. Use melodic direction toward resolutions

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

3 Practice Habits for Retaining Musical Material

13 juli 2020 · 18 min

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Welcome to episode 227 of the LJS Podcast where today we cover 3 practice habits for retaining musical material. Lees meer

It can be frustrating when you learn a jazz standard, solo, or lick, only to forget it later. In this episode, I introduce some practice habits that can be helpful for long-term retention and set you up for success.

It can be tough when we are learning a new jazz language, new jazz standards, to retain all of the information that we are learning. I mean, there is so much out there that we are learning. We're learning licks. We're learning jazz standards. We're learning melodies. We're learning chord changes to multiple different things. And eventually, we could possibly forget all of those things and it would feel like a lot of hard work has been wasted. But we don't want any of that to happen.

So, what are some of the best practices that we can put into place in order to retain the information that we are learning so that we can get out there and play the best music we possibly can?

Well, that's exactly what we are going to talk about in today's episode. Three different practice habits that I want you to adapt in order to be able to retain information better.

In this episode:
1. Consistency (different from repetition)
2. Limiting Material (not overloading)
3. Breaks (to allow your subconscious to absorb information)

Important Links:
1. LJS Inner Circle Membership
2. Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
3. LJS 181: I'm Taking a Break from Jazz

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

How to End a Jazz Standard

6 juli 2020 · 15 min

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Welcome to episode 226 of the LJS Podcast where today we cover the very important topic of ending jazz standards. Lees meer

Ever come to the end of jamming on a standard only for things to fall apart at the end? We all need some stock endings in our arsenal, and in today’s episode, I go over 7 different endings you can use to conclude jazz standards.

In this episode:
1. Take the A Train ending
2. Count Basie ending
3. Ritardando ending
4. bIImaj7 Ending
5. Altered I Chord Ending
6. ii-IV-iii-VI Tag Ending
7. b5 Chromatic Descending Ending

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
LJS 179: Intros to Play on Jazz Standards

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

When to Stop Practicing Something and Move On

29 juni 2020 · 22 min

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Welcome to episode 225 of the LJS Podcast where today I answer a question that I get asked quite often: when do I stop practicing something I'm working on and move on to something else? Lees meer

Often we get overly concerned about mastery and perfection, which can lead to getting stuck. Learn when you know something "good enough" and why you may want to move on even if things aren't perfect.

There's that famous Winston Churchill quote that goes, "Perfection is the enemy of progress". And when it comes to playing jazz and becoming a better musician, this can't be more true in my opinion. When we get stuck trying to "master things", we don't move on to the next lesson that we need to learn. We get stuck in one place, we over-obsess over something. We're not allowing ourselves to learn all of the multitudes of things that could be learned and refined when we move on to other material.But at the same time, how do we know when we've learned something well enough? We don't want to move on to the next thing if we really haven't gotten any control over a particular musical concept.

So, in today's episode, I'm going to dive in deep with that. I want to help us answer this question: how do we know when to move on to the next thing in our jazz playing?

In this episode:
1. Why moving on is sometimes the path to quicker improvement
2. Q1: On a scale of 1-10 how comfortable do I feel with the material?
3. Q2: How long have you been working on this material?
4. Q3: Does the material you are working on occur often in other jazz concepts you will work on?

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

By the End of This Episode You’ll Know a New Jazz Standard

22 juni 2020 · 48 min

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Welcome to episode 224 of the LJS Podcast where today I learn a new jazz standard in real-time on the show. If you'll join with me you'll know a new jazz standard by the end as well.
You'll see how I approach learning a jazz standard by ear, no filters, no edits. Lees meer

You know, I love a lot of things about jazz music, like I love the improv, I love the creativity, I love the challenge it provides to us as individual musicians. Just a lot of things are great about it that I enjoy playing and listening to it. But what a lot of people don't know is, my favorite part about jazz is the ballads. I just love ballads! I love playing the ballads. I think it's just some of the most beautiful music. It's all tunes! Oh man, it's so great! And so, I've been thinking to myself for a while, there's this particular ballad that I've really been wanting to learn and still don't know it.

So in today's episode, I am going to learn that jazz standard for the very first time. And I think in the process, you might learn it as well just by going along this with me and maybe at least get inside of my head of what I think about when I learn a jazz standard by ear.

In this episode:
1. I walk through a Brad Meldau recording of "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" and learn it by ear

Important Links:
1. LJS Inner Circle Membership
2. Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way
3. LJS 212: Improv Hacking Jazz Standards (3 Step Process)

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

3 Jazz Theory Lessons from On the Sunny Side of the Street

15 juni 2020 · 32 min

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Welcome to episode 223 of the LJS Podcast where today we go over three music theory concepts in the jazz standard On the Sunny Side of the Street that can be helpful for improvising on standards in general. I discuss the three concepts as well as a few different ideas on how to approach them in your solos. Lees meer

I don't know about you, but whenever I work on a jazz standard or learn a new jazz standard, I'm always looking for little nuggets of wisdom, little tidbits that are going to help me in my jazz improv, not just with that song but with all other jazz standards. Because each jazz standard really is a treasure trove of new explorations, new opportunities for different kinds of improvisation and to spark new creative ideas for ourselves.

So, in today's podcast episode, I'm going to look at a really awesome jazz standard called On the Sunny Side of the Street and we are going to look at 3 different jazz theory takeaways and some different ways to approach them in an improvisational standpoint.

In this episode:
1. Deceptive Cadence
2. Diminished replacing a dominant 7
3. Dominant II7 chord (Secondary Dominant)

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Jazz, Racial Injustice, and What This Music Really Means (feat. Kyle Younger)

7 juni 2020 · 43 min

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Welcome to episode 222 of the LJS Podcast where today we have on special guest Kyle Younger on the show to discuss the history of jazz and its ties to the racial oppression of the African American community. Lees meer

Jazz is African American music, and we cannot understand or play this music without recognizing the oppression of those who created this music.

When we play jazz music and when we practice jazz music, it's important that we remember that it is African American music and it was born out of slavery. It was born out of racism, injustice, oppression, and it developed under injustice and oppression. And music is always a reflection of the times. It's always the reflection of the people who are playing the music. And we can never untie jazz and playing jazz, or not connect the two together. They are so intertwined. And so it's important that when we play this music, we have a reverence, we have an understanding of what this music really means, just even outside of the notes and the theory and how to play it. Now, I am not the right person to deliver this message, obviously.

So I've got a very special guest on the show today, multi-instrumentalist, educator, and jazz aficionado, Kyle Younger, to share what jazz music means. Not only what it means to the African American community, but what it should mean to us, and what we should think about when we play this music.

In this episode:
1. Jazz is a music born out of slavery, injustice, and oppression.
2. When we play this music we need to understand the context of which the music was created.
3. Jazz is music created by African Americans but shared with all. Jazz is love.

Important Links:
1. Kyle's Book Suggestions: Beneath the Underdog
2. Music is My Mistress
3. The Jazz Life
4. LJS Inner Circle Membership
5. Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Improv Hacking Jazz Standards (3 Step Proven Process)

1 juni 2020 · 50 min

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Welcome to episode 221 of the LJS Podcast where today in celebration of the launch of my new LJS Inner Circle Membership, I go over my 3 step proven process for "improv hacking" jazz standards. Lees meer

This is one of those episode that has so much value packed into it, I know you'll be reaching for your notepad!

From time to time on this podcast, I like to come out with a super high-value episode like one that just really packs a punch. And in my opinion, when it comes to becoming a better jazz improviser, it's all about frameworks. It's all about step-by-step processes for actually getting better. Not fancy tricks, not new little licks or solos to learn. These are the things that really matter to me in our practice. So when a lot of us look at jazz standards and we're confused, we don't know where to start, we're not sure how to take our jazz improv on a jazz standard from one place to the next level, and we need frameworks.

And so, in today's episode, I'm going to be talking about improv hacking jazz standards. My 3 step proven (and I mean that when I say that) process for really starting to crush it on jazz standards and start getting better at jazz improv.

In this episode:
1. Step 1: Learning Jazz Standards by Ear the Right Way
2. Step 2: Mapping Out Jazz Standards for Improv Success
3. Step 3: Creating Killer Jazz Solos in 2 Phases

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!

Less is More (Reduce Overwhelm While Skyrocketing Your Jazz Skills)

25 mei 2020 · 36 min

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Welcome to episode 220 of the LJS Podcast where today I talk about how working on less is oftentimes the best way to improve as a jazz musician quickly. Lees meer

It seems counterintuitive to many that practicing less stuff (or even for less time) will produce greater results in your playing. But in this episode I share what will make the biggest differences, and how to apply a less is more strategy.

Have you ever been going through YouTube or maybe a podcast like this or blogs collecting a bunch of jazz lessons? Just learning a bunch of different concepts, working on them, going to the next thing, and to the next thing, and to the next thing, and to the next thing. And then before you know it, you're not really quite sure what you've been learning, what you've been doing, what direction you're going in. You just kind of feel overwhelmed.

Or here's a different scenario. Maybe you learn a tune one week and then you learn another tune in the next week, and you learn a solo for that tune. So you keep learning a bunch of things really quickly and maybe you're reading it off a piece of sheet music so you just blow in through it and you're thinking to yourself, I'm doing all the right things. This is what everybody tells me to do but it's just a lot of stuff. Right. So you don't really get a lot out of each one. Well, I don't know about you. I've definitely felt like this before. I'm sure that you can relate to this as well.

And my message in today's podcast episode is less is more. So, today we're going to learn about what we should be doing, and some different methods for applying the less is more strategy.

In this episode:
1. The 80/20 rule applied to jazz
2. Working the 3 Pillars of Jazz Improvisation
3. The Single Project Method
4. The Batching Method
5. The 1 Big, 1 Small Method

Important Links:
LJS Inner Circle Membership
Free Guide to learn standards by ear: Learn Jazz Standards the Smart Way

Learn Jazz Standards Inner Circle: Get 50% off your first month!